Hillsborough disaster report published - Wednesday 12 September

• Report casts doubt over original inquest ruling, revealing that 41 of the 96 victims 'had the potential to survive'
• South Yorkshire police and emergency services made 'strenuous attempts' to deflect blame for the crush onto victims
• 116 of 164 police statements were 'amended to remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire police'
• Police carried out blood alcohol readings on victims, including children, in order to 'impugn their reputations'
• PM David Cameron says he is 'profoundly sorry' for the 'double injustice' of the Hillsborough disaster.
• Kelvin MacKenzie, the Sun editor who wrote the infamous headline 'The Truth' on the front page story blaming fans, offers 'profuse apologies'

Summary

We're going to wrap up the blog now. Thank you for following the blog and for your contributions on a momentous day for those who have been campaigning for the truth to be made public for the past 23 years. Here is a summary of the main developments:

The attorney general is to decide whether to apply to the high court to quash the original, flawed inquest which returned a verdict of accidental death and order a new one after an independent report into the Hillsborough disaster revealed that 41 victims "had the potential to survive".

The Hillsborough Independent Panel found that South Yorkshire Police and the emergency services made "strenuous attempts" to deflect the blame for the crush onto victims.

The report found 116 police statements were "amended to remove or alter comments unfavourable to South Yorkshire Police".

Police carried out blood alcohol readings on victims, including children, and ran national computer checks on some of them in an attempt to "impugn their reputations".

The panel found "no evidence ...to verify the serious allegations of exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans".

Prime minister David Cameron said he is "profoundly sorry" for the "double injustice" of the Hillsborough disaster.

Kelvin MacKenzie, Sun editor when the paper ran a story blaming fans, offered "profuse apologies" for the headline. The Sun's current editor Dominic Mohan aslo apologised.

David Compton, chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, "profoundly apologises" to families of the 96 victims and Liverpool fans in general.

Andy Burnham at Liverpool vigil

Andy Burnham MP, the Labour MP for Leigh who as culture secretary set up the panel, has just finished speaking at the vigil in Liverpool city centre.

He thanked all members of the panel for the "courage and determination" they showed in their task. Burnham also thanked the prime minister and the home secretary for "finishing off" what he and Maria Eagles started.

He got a huge cheer as he thanks Kenny Dalglish "from the bottom of my heart" for being at every funeral, every inquest.

Burnham said:

I will never be able to accept or allow a verdict of accidental death to remain on the public record. We need a new inquest, a new verdict and only then can we say we have put right one of the greatest injustices in our country's history in the 20th century.

He ends by telling people to be proud of what they have achieved and "tomorrow let's get justice for the 96".

From the earliest safety assessments made by safety engineers commissioned in 1978 by SWFC, it was apparent that the stadium failed to meet minimum standards under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975 and established in the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (known as the 'Green Guide'), 1976. Documents released to the Panel confirm that the local Advisory Group for Safety at Sports Grounds carried out inadequate and poorly recorded inspections. There is clear evidence that SWFC's primary consideration was cost and, to an extent, this was shared by its primary safety consultants, Eastwood & Partners....

Recommendations to feed fans directly from designated turnstiles into each pen, thus monitoring precisely the distribution of fans between the pens, were not acted on because of anticipated costs to SWFC ...The fire service ...raised concerns about provision for emergency evacuation of the terraces. As the only means of escaping forwards was onto the pitch, concern was raised specifically about the width of the perimeter fence gates which was well below the standard recommended by the Green Guide. The gradient of the tunnel under the West Stand leading down onto the terrace also significantly breached the Green Guide's recommendation ...

While modifications were made inside the stadium, the issue of congested access to the turnstiles outside the stadium remained unresolved ...Following alterations, the safety of the existing maximum capacity for the Leppings Lane terrace was questioned repeatedly yet the decision was taken by the Club and the safety engineers not to revise the figure ...

From the documents disclosed to the panel, key issues - positioning of safety barriers, elevation of the tunnel, adequacy of the perimeter fence gates - were not discussed or recorded at the annual safety inspections ...

South Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Ambulance control room transcripts show that ambulance service officers, present specifically to respond to a major incident rather than have any crowd control brief, were slower than police to identify and realise the severity of the crush despite being close to the central pens.

Neither SYP nor South Yorkshire Metropolitan ambulance service (SYMAS) fully activated the major incident procedure. Communications between all emergency services were imprecise and inappropriately worded, leading to delay, misunderstanding and a failure to deploy officers to take control and coordinate the emergency response.

Only the two major Sheffield hospitals correctly activated their major incident procedures, relying on staff judgement and information received from an ambulance crew member about radio traffic he had overheard.

Lack of correct activation of the major incident procedure significantly constrained effective and appropriate response. Senior ambulance officers were not deployed to specified command and control roles and an emergency foot team with essential medical equipment was not mustered. Site medical teams were not called until it was too late for them to be used to effect.

The disclosed documents show clear and repeated evidence of failures in leadership and emergency response coordination. While this is understandable in the immediate moments of an overwhelming disaster, it was a situation that persisted for at least 45 minutes after injured spectators were released from the pens.

Vigil in Liverpool

Thousands of people have gathered in Liverpool city centre tonight for a vigil at St George's Hall, organised by the council, in memory of the 96 victims of the Hillsborough Disaster. Speaking before the vigil got under way the city's executive mayor, Joe Anderson, said:

This is a momentous day that the families and the city have waited 23 years for. It is absolutely clear for everyone to see that those affected were victims not only of a terrible event, but also of an unforgivable miscarriage of justice.

They were aided and abetted by some sections of the media, who should now apologise for misleading the nation and smearing the reputation of Liverpool FC fans and the city.

It is to the credit of families that they have never given up on their quest to find out what happened on that dreadful day.

Now that we finally have the truth of what happened in 1989, we must make sure the families get the justice they deserve. I am calling on the attorney general to apply to the high court immediately to quash the original inquest verdicts so that a fresh inquiry can be held.

Furthermore, those who played a role in the cover-up should be brought to account for their deceit and corruption. The people of Liverpool will stand shoulder to shoulder with the families as we seek to make sure they get justice they have sought for so long.

We will never forget the impact the Hillsborough disaster had on the bereaved families, on the lives of those who were caught up in the disaster and the long journey the entire city has had to endure for the truth to be heard."

Analysis of documents

The vast majority - 25,246 - were on paper; memos, letters and reports. These have now been digitised by the team at the Inquiry. There were also 297 photographs and 22 audio/visual reports, with a handful more on disk, and even ancient formats such as floppy disks and computer tapes.

Using Google Fusion Tables new network tool, the datablog team has tried to visualise the networks of documents and the people they referred to. The graphic below indicates in blue, how frequently the organisations involved were mentioned, and, in yellow, the number of documents provided by the various departments, organisations or individuals.

'Strip Patnick of knighthood'

A Labour backbencher has written to the prime minister calling for the removal of Sir Irvine Patnick’s knighthood. Patnick, the former Tory member for Sheffield Hallam, was named by the independent panel as one of the sources for The Sun's notorious coverage 23 years ago.

The shameful and disgusting behaviour of Sir Irvine Patnick is a significant feature in the Hillsborough independent Panel report and his knighthood should be removed immediately. David Cameron should now do the right thing and take the necessary steps to do this.

Mann pointed out that disgraced former RBS boss Fred Goodwin had been stripped of his knighthood earlier this year on the advice of the forfeiture committee. Mann said:

Fred Goodwin brought the honours system in to disrepute and we now know that Sir Irvine Patnick has done the same and appropriate action should be taken

David Conn analyses report

Calls for senior police officer to resign

The Guardian's crime correspondent, Sandra Laville, writes that a former South Yorkshire chief inspector is facing calls to resign in the wake of today's report.

The Hillsborough famillies have called for the resignation of the chief constable of West Yorkshire, Norman Bettison, who is now one of the country's most senior police officers. As a South Yorkshire chief inspector, Bettison was part of the internal review team at South Yorkshire police who have been accused of engaging in black propaganda to shift blame for the stadium disaster from the police and onto fans.

Bettison, who has since received the Queens Police medal, has previously denied any part in this activity. Trevor Hicks, chairman of the Hillsborough families support group said of Bettison: "If he is anything of a man he will stand down and scurry up a drainpipe somewhere."

The report highlights Bettison's role in the internal review in presenting an edited video of the disaster to the police federation and later to MPs. The video - 29 minutes of footage compiled by Bettison from 65 hours of film - included a commentary by him. The report states: "The minutes of the meeting record what presumably was CI Bettison's commentary: 'Perimeter fences were the result of hooliganism - walls demolished, missile attacks on police officers, supporters climbing perimeter fences, pitch invasion'. The last was 'thought to be the case at Hillsborough'."

This document marked "In Strict Confidence" provides the evidence that blood alcohol concentrations were measured in patients at Royal Hallamshire hospital. The names of the patients have understandably been redacted.

I'm signing off the liveblog now. Thanks for all your comments and contributions today. My colleague Haroon Siddique is taking over and you can email him on haroon.siddique@guardian.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @haroon_siddique

One of our readers has pointed out that Boris Johnson arguably also owes the people of Liverpool an apology. This report in the Telegraph records the comments he made about the city:

In 2004, Boris Johnson was ordered by the then Tory leader Michael Howard to go to Liverpool and apologise for an article in The Spectator which accused the city of "wallowing" in its "victim status".

He said Liverpudlians made a scapegoat of police in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster, refusing to acknowledge the part played "by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground".

The article, on 16 October, said people in Liverpool "cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance about the rest of society".

Just had this note from reader Lawrence Weetman, who points out that the website for the report is remarkably clear and well-designed - the panel have demonstrated a real openness. He writes:

I think it's worth pointing out how incredible the Hillsborough report's website is: the layout and organisation; the records made available; the fact that there are text-based versions of many of the reports and pages; making data available in an open format; etc. I sincerely hope that the effort invested in making the data so well presented will ultimately help the families affected to find the relevant information to help their cases over the coming months and years.

The link for the Hillsborough report

If you were wondering how the Guardian reported Hillsborough at the time, here is a story from the archives from David Lacey, the Guardian's football correspondent between 1973 and 2002.

First the pain, then the anger, then the questions - and as English football again counts its dead, this time after the worst tragedy in a British stadium, the biggest question of all is stark in its simplicity.

How was it possible, after all the previous disasters, inquiries, working parties, reports, recommendations and Acts of Parliament, for almost a hundred people to be crushed to death in a football ground which had a good safety record and was not full to capacity, while only a few yards away other spectators were moving around with room to spare?

Joshua Rozenberg has written about the legal options following the publication of the Hillsborough report.

An option, he notes "would be the establishment of a new public inquiry, headed by a lawyer or judge and taking the documents published by the panel this afternoon as its starting-point."

But, he adds: "However, an inquest verdict, as a finding of the court, may carry greater weight with the relatives of those who died than the findings of another inquiry".

He notes that the Attorney General will want "to consider whether the new evidence released on Wednesday discloses potential criminal offences. The most serious charge referred to by Michael Mansfield QC, on behalf of the families, was manslaughter — unlawful killing by gross negligence."

He writes:

If there is evidence of potential criminal offences, a decision will have to be taken on whether any defendant could have a fair trial and whether it would be in the public interest to bring prosecutions nearly a quarter of a century after the event. One factor to be considered in assessing the public interest is that any prosecutions would delay the start of any new inquest or public inquiry.

All this is going to take time to resolve — years rather than months. The families have waited a long time for truth. They seem willing to wait a little longer for justice.

On my way to lunch today I got a thumbs up from a Man Utd fan, who was driving past me. I've heard from loads of footie fans from all over the place wishing the best for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.To All of you and you know who you are, Thanks.It is my sincere hope that we Never have to stand by you in the way you stood by us because of such a tragedy.BTW I still want us get 3 points off you, Home and Away!

As a United fan who continues to wish the best for the campaign, and gladly signed and promoted the petition, your gratitude is touching, but by no means needed. This is an issue that unites not just all football fans, but all people with common decency.

The statement by PC Maxwell Groome was one of "those most extensively altered" the report found.

The following material was deleted from his original account:"The decision to replace Chief Superintendent Mole before the semi-final needs to come under some scrutiny. This man had many years experience of policing big matches at Hillsborough.

Compared to other semi-finals held at Hillsborough, the organisation of this event was poor, as has been the case for most of the season. Too little notice had been taken of current trends and football intelligence and too much reliance has been placed upon previous information held.

Too many non-operational supervisory officers were in charge of important and critical parts of the football ground.

The deployment of officers around the crucial time needs to come under scrutiny, too many were sat around in the gymnasium whilst others were rushed off their feet."

He also wrote originally: "It was noticeable that the only supervisory officers above the rank of Inspector on the pitch were Chief Inspectors Beal and Sumner and Superintendent Greenwood. Certain supervisory officers were conspicuous by their absence. It was utter chaos."

This was changed to: "On the pitch were Chief Inspectors Beal and Sumner and Superintendent Greenwood."

The report stresses that the crush, and as a result the disaster at Hillsborough, was not caused by ticketless fans. Here is that particular line from the report:

The panel found no evidence among the vast number of disclosed documents and many hours of video material to verify the serious allegations of exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans. There was no evidence that fans had conspired to arrive late at the stadium and force entry and no evidence that they stole from the dead and dying.

Following the publication of the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel this afternoon, Hillsborough Family Support Group lawyer, James Saunders of Saunders Law, has issued this statement in which he calls for the Attorney General to quash the inquest verdicts and a new inquest.

I am privileged to act for the Hillsborough Family Support Group who have campaigned with persistence and great dignity over many years for the truth to be told about the Hillsborough tragedy. The HIP report published today is a truly damning indictment of officials and processes that have concealed the truth about Hillsborough for so long.

The very people charged with looking after the safety of those Liverpool FC fans who died not only allowed and caused what happened, but then lied to avoid the blame, and cruelly blamed the victims for the failures.

The welcome statements today by David Cameron and politicians from all parties start the healing process, but a new inquest is required. The families and the public deserve this.

It is for Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, to make an application to the High Court to quash the current inquest verdict which was based on evidence that had been tampered with, and an untrue picture of events. Only then can a new inquest look to find the truth in public as is required.

I would want to properly consider the vast body of new evidence before taking other steps, but it may well be that those persons who have lied, concealed and distorted evidence should now be brought to account before the law personally.

Kelvin MacKenzie, who was the editor of the Sun at the time of the Hillsborough disaster has offered the people of Liverpool his “profuse apologies” for his front page story, entitled The Truth, that claimed drunken fans had urinated on police and pickpocketed the dead.

It is the fullest apology the Sun editor has made the 23 years since the notorious front page which led to a mass boycott of the paper in Merseyside.

Trevor Hicks, who lost his two daughters on the Leppings Lane terraces, and a Hillsborough campaigner, branded MacKenzie's apology as "too little, too late";

MacKenzie's remarks came just a few hours after David Cameron referred to the “despicable untruths” in the story and called on the paper to make a “heartfelt apology” and for MacKenzie to “stand up to his responsibilities" after pinning some of the blame for the disaster on the fans.

In a statement MacKenzie offered his “profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline”. He added: “It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong.”

My colleague Haroon Siddique has been poring over the report. He writes:

Here is an extract from just one of the witness statements given by fans who attended the match at Hillsborough that forms part of the 450,000-plus pages of documents examined by the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

The crush continued not abating, I remember a policeman jumping onto the caging and perimeter wall and shouting to get back and making pushing gestures at the crowd. This was impossible ... At this point the man on my right hand side, I didn't know him, was obviously unconscious, I couldn't see too clearly as it was even difficult to move your head. Anyway this man had his head backwards but I was unable to move to assist him ...

The next thing I realised was I fell backwards from the pressure at the front. I was trapped from about waist deep with arms and legs and bodies. I looked to my right where the man who was unconscious was and saw he was lying on his back,his eyes wide open with just the whites of his eyes showing, his eyes having rolled backwards. I thought the man was dead at this point and I leant over, pinched his nose, tilted his head back and tried to give him the kiss of life. After a while I lent up, slapped him across the face to try and get some response, but was unable to do so. I remember looking around and behind me and I could see there were about seven policemen standing around not doing anything ...I screamed at one policeman to help me saying "Get this guy out, I think he's dead." ...

I have heard stories in the press but I can say I saw nothing which I would class as a criminal offence before or after the crush ...My opinion is that I realise what's been said in the press about the reasons for opening the gate but that situation should never have arrived if people had been organised into queues and there was better policing outside the ground.

Today I offer my profuse apologies to the people of Liverpool for that headline. I too was totally misled. Twenty three ago I was handed a piece of copy from a reputable news agency in Sheffield in which a senior police officer and a senior local MP were making serious allegations against fans in the stadium. I had absolutely no reason to believe that these authority figures would lie and deceive over such a disaster.

As the Prime Minister has made clear these allegations were wholly untrue and were part of a concerted plot by police officers to discredit the supporters thereby shifting the blame for the tragedy from themselves.

It has taken more than two decades, 400,000 documents and a two-year inquiry to discover to my horror that it would have been far more accurate had I written the headline The Lies rather than The Truth. I published in good faith and I am sorry that it was so wrong

Lisa O'Carroll has been looking over the documents that relate to the original news agency story that alleged that fans had urinated on policemen.

The original news agency report on the fans allegedly urinating on policeman has been published by the inquiry.

But a private memo Whites news agency wrote to the Evening Standard, explaining how it came to hear these stories adds rich, and quite shocking, context to the Sun story at the time.

It reveals that the Tory MP for Sheffield Hallam Irvine Patnick, who is named for the first time as one of the sources, had told them he had spoken to police officers that fateful Saturday night.

They had told him "they had been attacked and urinated on. He had not volunteered the information previously because he felt it would inflame a very sensitive situation".

Whites say they also "watered down" some of the allegations made by police sources. "We also added quotes from South Yorkshire's police federation secretary who said he had heard "terrible" accounts of the behaviour of some fans.

"In some respects, we 'watered down' the allegations which included a report to us, that Liverpool fans seeing the uncovered breasts of a dead girl shouted 'pass her over here and we'll f... her".

"We felt we did as much as could to check the authenticity of the story in the time and reported faithfully what we were told."

Two minutes' silence held across Liverpool

The press conference by victims' families is halted at 3.06pm for two minutes' silence – 3.06pm being the time that the now-forgotten football match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest was called off.

Just to reiterate - that all the documents are now available online. What information in there is standing out to you? Is there anything in there that has surprised you? If you think parts of the material are significant then please let us know below the line.

Kelvin Mackenzie, the editor of the Sun who wrote the now infamous 'The Truth' headline, is reportedly to make a statement this afternoon. This from Sky News, who you would think would have a more inside track than most to Mackenzie.

Trevor Hicks says the Hillsborough victims' families will pursue "any avenue" in their search for "accountability". He says that today is for the truth, and tomorrow is for the justice, implying that their fight to bring those responsible to account is far from over.

In a press conference in Liverpool, Trevor Hicks says there were two disasters at Hillsborough: what happened on the day, and what happened afterwards. He condemns the "contrived, manupulated, vengeful and spiteful" attempt by various agencies to cover up the truth.

Hicks asks any Sun journalists present to leave the press conference. No one leaves, though, as one of the other family members points out "would they tell the truth?"

Hillsborough families hold press conference

Families of the victims say that the independent panel members have "done Liverpool proud" with the publication of their findings today and that they feel "totally vindicated" in their fight for justice.

Victims' families have responded to David Cameron's apology in the House of Commons. The Press Association have this report:

Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign welcomed the apology made by Prime Minister David Cameron.She told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “Of course (the apology) is welcome, because it is an acknowledgement that Liverpool, the bereaved families and the fans have been telling the truth for years and yet have been considered liars.”

She added: “Without doubt the inquest verdicts have to be quashed. David Cameron batted this back to the Attorney General. The Attorney General needs to surely, with the evidence presented to him today and the evidence previously presented to him, must quash the inquest verdicts in all cases.

“With the clear evidence that fans could have been saved — and the evidence is there — he needs to give all of those 96 victims their right under law, the right to a fair hearing. It needs a full inquiry into how they died.”

Asked if she believed criminal charges should now be brought, Ms Coleman said: “I do, because all the evidence today shows that South Yorkshire Police and people in South Yorkshire Police lied and operated a cover-up.”

Dave Prentis, leader of Unison, said: “If there is one lesson that should be learnt from Hillsborough, it is that never again should grieving relatives be left to live the nightmare of not knowing the truth. “It has been cruel and inhumane that they have had to fight to get the truth of what happened to their loved ones.“We hope that releasing the files will ease their suffering and help to bring some closure. And there is now absolutely no excuse to delay further inquests into the remaining victims.”

My colleague Lisa O'Carroll has written about Cameron's comments on The Sun newspaper.

David Cameron has said that the former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie needs to “stand up to his responsibilities” for the “despicable” front page story blaming drunken fans for the Hillsborough disaster.

He made his remarks following the publication of the devastating report on Hillsborough identifies a Tory MP, Irvine Patnick, and high ranking police sources for the allegations that led to the tabloid’s notorious front page, headlined “The Truth”.

The prime minister said during parliamentary questions that it was aslo time for the Sun to make a “proper heartfelt apology” for the April 1989 splash which claimed in three sub headlines that “Some fans picked pockets of victims; Some fans urinated on the brave cops; Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life”. Other papers carried the story but qualified it by saying there were reports that fans had been abusive.

The documents released to the Hillsborough Independent Panel says that Sheffield Hallam MP Patnick, alongside the South Yorkshire Police Federation were responsible for feeding the stories to White’s News Agency in Yorkshire that led to the Sun story.

In the past MacKenzie has said a Tory MP had made the allegations protesting that his only “mistake was I believed what an MP said”. The prime minister told parliament today the sun had “sensationaled these allegations” and they were “clearly wrong and caused huge offence, distress and hurt”.

He revealed that News International had co-operated with the panel. “For the first time, today’s report reveals that the source for these despicable untruths was a Sheffield news agency reporting conversations with South Yorkshire Police and Irvine Patnick, the then MP for Sheffield Hallam,” said Cameron.

Asked by Labour MP Chris Bryant, whether the Sun should apologise, Cameron said he understood that the paper had done so in the past. However he added what the paper had written was “appalling” and “my view is that Kelvin MacKenzie needs to take responsibility for that”. He added: “Now is the time for proper heartfelt apologies, not only ‘I’m sorry’ but here’s what went wrong.”

In July 2004, the Sun said it was “truly sorry” and that its false allegations were “the most terrible mistake in its history”. It made the statement after Wayne Rooney, who then played for Everton, was criticised for a series of exclusive interviews.

Less than a year later, in February 2005, The Sun’s managing editor Graham Dudman admitted in a BBC documentary that the Hillsborough coverage was “the worst mistake in our history”. However a year later, old wounds were re-opened after MacKenzie was quoted as saying at a private business lunch with a Newcastle law firm: “All I did wrong was tell the truth ... I was not sorry then and I’m not sorry now because we told the truth”.

The Bishop of Liverpool thanks the media for respecting the decision to show the report to families first. The panel's first priority must be to the families, who would now be given the chance to interrogate the panel.

Absolutely all information made available to us, panel responds. The whole audit trial is there, but panel satisfied that they saw everything that would allow them to draw out the most important points that would add to public understanding of what happened.

Ambulance service also doctored statements, was this linked to the police?

Panel replies that explanation given that there is a wide variation in amendments, same excuse as given by police.In number of cases, criticism was deflected and the efficiency of their response was emphasied - but it was about putting the service into the best light.

The panel is asked about the changing of statements by police and was it an improper process of amending the statements?

The bishop replies that all doc will now go online at 2pm. People will be able to see what has been redacted and can form their own judgements.

South Yorks police argued that they had only removed conjecture, but the panel found that anything "unhelpful" was altered deleted or qualified. Officers who were unhappy about that were "helped" with the process.

116 out of 164 police statements were amended to remove comments that were directly unfavourable to the South Yorkshire police.

People will be able to judge for themselves if this was "improper", but the police had not only removed "conjecture".

Cameron on why today's report matters both for Merseyside and the rest of the country.

Mr Speaker, because of what I have described as the second injustice – the false version of events - not enough people in this country understand what the people of Merseyside have been through.

This appalling death toll of so many loved ones lost was compounded by an attempt to blame the victims. A narrative about hooliganism on that day was created which led many in the country to accept that it was somehow a grey area.

Today’s report is black and white. The Liverpool fans “were not the cause of the disaster”. The Panel has quite simply found “no evidence” in support of allegations of “exceptional levels of drunkenness, ticketlessness or violence among Liverpool fans ”no evidence that fans had conspired to arrive late at the stadium” and “no evidence that they stole from the dead and dying.”

Mr Speaker, I’m sure the whole House will want to thank the Bishop of Liverpool and his Panel for all the work they have done.

And I am sure that all sides will join with me in paying tribute to the incredible strength and dignity of the Hillsborough families and the community which has backed them in their long search for justice.

While nothing can ever bring back those who have been lost with all the documents revealed and nothing held back the families, at last, have access to the truth

Mr Speaker, I want to be very clear about the view the government takes about these findings and why after 23 years this matters so much, not just for the families but for Liverpool and for our country as a whole.

Mr Speaker what happened that day – and since – was wrong. It was wrong that the responsible authorities knew Hillsborough did not meet minimum safety standards and yet still allowed the match to go ahead.

It was wrong that the families have had to wait for so long – and fight so hard – just to get to the truth. And it was wrong that the police changed the records of what happened and tried to blame the fans.

We ask the police to do difficult and often very dangerous things on our behalf. And South Yorkshire Police is a very different organisation today from what it was then.

But we do the many, many honourable police men and women a great disservice if we try to defend the indefensible. It was also wrong that neither Lord Justice Taylor nor the Coroner looked properly at the response of the other emergency services.

Again, these are dedicated people who do extraordinary things to serve the public. But the evidence from today’s report makes very difficult reading.

Mr Speaker, with the weight of the new evidence in this Report, it is right for me today as Prime Minister to make a proper apology to the families of the 96 for all they have suffered over the past 23 years.

Indeed, the new evidence that we are presented with today makes clear that these families have suffered a double injustice.
The injustice of the appalling events — the failure of the state to protect their loved ones and the indefensible wait to get to the truth. And the injustice of the denigration of the deceased – that they were somehow at fault for their own deaths.

On behalf of the Government – and indeed our country – I am profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long.

Mr Speaker, the conclusions of this report will be harrowing for many of the families affected. Anyone who has lost a child knows the pain never leaves you. But to read a report years afterwards that says – and I quote “a swifter, more appropriate, better focused and properly equipped response had the potential to save more lives” can only add to the pain It is for the Attorney General to decide whether to apply to the High Court to quash the original inquest and seek a new one.

In this capacity he acts independently of government. And he will need to examine the evidence himself. But it is clear to me that the new evidence in today’s report raises vital questions which must be examined.

And the Attorney General has assured me that he will examine this new evidence immediately and reach a decision as fast as possible. But ultimately it is for the High Court to decide.It is also right that the House should have an opportunity to debate the issues raised in this report fully. My Rt Hon Friend the Home Secretary will be taking forward a debate in Government time. And this will happen when the House returns in October.

Third, and perhaps most significantly of all, the Bishop of Liverpool’s report presents new evidence which casts significant doubt over the adequacy of the original Inquest. The Coroner — on the advice of pathologists — believed that victims suffered traumatic asphyxia leading to unconsciousness within seconds and death within a few minutes. As a result he asserted that beyond 3.15pm there were no actions that could have changed the fate of the victims and he limited the scope of the Inquest accordingly.

But by analysing post mortem reports the Panel have found that 28 did not have obstruction of blood circulation and 31 had evidence of heart and lungs continuing to function after the crush. This means that individuals in those groups could have had potentially reversible asphyxia beyond 3.15pm in contrast to the findings of the Coroner and a subsequent Judicial Review. And the Panel states clearly that “it is highly likely that what happened to those individuals after 3.15pm was significant” in determining whether they died.

Mr Speaker, over all these years questions have been raised about the role of the government – including whether it did enough to uncover the truth. It is certainly true that some of the language in the government papers published today was insensitive. But having been through every document – and every government document including Cabinet Minutes will be published — the Panel found no evidence of any government trying to conceal the truth.

At the time of the Taylor Report the then Prime Minister was briefed by her private secretary that the defensive and – I quote — “close to deceitful” behaviour of senior South Yorkshire officers was “depressingly familiar.” And it is clear that the then government thought it right that the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire should resign. But as the Rt Hon Member for Leigh has rightly highlighted, governments then and since have simply not done enough to challenge publicly the unjust and untrue narrative that sought to blame the fans.

Second, the families have long believed that some of the authorities attempted to create a completely unjust account of events that sought to blame the fans for what happened. Mr Speaker, the families were right.The evidence in today’s report includes briefings to the media and attempts by the Police to change the record of events. On the media. Several newspapers reported false allegations that fans were drunk and violent and stole from the dead. The Sun’s report sensationalised these allegations under a banner headline “The Truth.” This was clearly wrong and caused huge offence, distress and hurt. News International has co-operated with the Panel and, for the first time, today’s report reveals that the source for these despicable untruths was a Sheffield news agency reporting conversations with South Yorkshire Police and Irvine Patnick, the then MP for Sheffield Hallam.

The Report finds that this was part of police efforts – and I quote - “to develop and publicise a version of events that focused on…allegations of drunkenness, ticketlessness and violence.” In terms of changing the record of events, we already know that police reports were significantly altered but the full extent was not drawn to Lord Justice Taylor’s attention. Today’s Report finds that 164 statements were significantly amended – and 116 explicitly removed negative comments about the policing operation — including its lack of leadership. The report also makes important findings about particular actions taken by the police and coroner while investigating the deaths. There is new evidence which shows that police officers carried out police national computer checks on those who had died in an attempt – and I quote from the report — “to impugn the reputations of the deceased.”

The Coroner took blood alcohol levels from all of the deceased including children. The Panel finds no rationale whatsoever for what it regards as an “exceptional” decision.The report states clearly that the attempt of the inquest to draw a link between blood alcohol and late arrival was “fundamentally flawed”. And that alcohol consumption was “unremarkable and not exceptional for a social or leisure occasion”.

There is a trail of new documents which show the extent to which the safety of the crowd at Hillsborough was “compromised at every level.” The ground failed to meet minimum standards and the “deficiencies were well known”. The turnstiles were inadequate. The ground capacity had been significantly over-calculated. The crush barriers failed to meet safety standards.

There had been a crush at exactly the same match the year before. And today’s report shows clearly that lessons had not been learnt. The report backs up again the key finding of the Taylor Report on police failure. But it goes further by revealing for the first time the shortcomings of the ambulance and emergency services response. The major incident plan was not fully implemented. Rescue attempts were held back by failures of leadership and co-ordination. And, significantly, new documents today show there was a delay from the emergency services when people were being crushed and killed.

Today the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Reverend James Jones, is publishing the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel. The disaster at the Hillsborough football stadium on 15th April 1989 was one of the greatest peacetime tragedies of the last century. 96 people died as a result of a crush in the Leppings Lane Terrace at the FA Cup Semi-Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

There was a public Inquiry at the time by Lord Justice Taylor which found – and I quote – that the main cause of the disaster was “a failure of police control.” But the Inquiry didn’t have access to all the documents that have since become available, it didn’t properly examine the response of the emergency services, it was followed by a deeply controversial inquest, and by a media version of events that sought to blame the fans. As a result, the families have not heard the truth and have not found justice. That is why the previous government – and in particular – the Rt Hon Member for Leigh was right to set up this Panel. And it is why this government insisted that no stone should be left unturned and that all papers should be made available to the Bishop of Liverpool and his team.

My colleague political editor Patrick Wintour has pointed out that Cameron appears to have opened the door for a new inquest into the 96 deaths at Hillsborough. The Attorney General has power to do this.

Owen Gibson has sent more detail which was covered by Cameron in his statement. He comments on the Coroner's decision not to allow evidence about the disaster after 3.15pm.

Documents disclosed to the Panel also reveal the original pathologists' evidence of a single unvarying pattern of death is unsustainable.

The assumption was the basis of Coroner's imposition of a 3.15pm cut off on evidence to the inquests. It led to the mistaken belief that an effective emergency services' intervention could not have saved lives.

The Panel's disclosure confirms that in some cases death was not immediate and the outcome depended on events after 3.15pm. The Panel found that close analysis of the documents demonstrated that the weight placed on blood alcohol levels was inappropriate, fuelling "persistent and unsustainable assertions about drunken fan behaviour not supported by evidence of moderate drinking patterns of drinking unremarkable for a leisure event."

Here is our first story from Owen Gibson and David Conn who now have the report in front of them:

A forensic independent review has concluded that the main cause of the Hillsborough disaster that caused the deaths of 96 men, women and children was a "failure in police control" but has also revealed "multiple failures" within other organisations that compromised crowd safety.

More than 23 years after the disaster claimed 96 lives and following a two year review of around 450,000 unrestricted documents relating to the disaster, the Hillsborough Independent Panel has underlined the "clear operational failure" that led to the disaster and the attempts by South Yorkshire Police and the ambulance service to cover up their shortcomings.

The fact that the ambulance service also altered statements from staff is revealed for the first time. The evidence shows "conclusively" that Liverpool fans "neither caused nor contributed to the deaths" and shows the extent to which attempts, endorsed by the SYP chief constable Peter Wright, were made to smear them.

Documents released to the panel show how high ranking police sources, the South Yorkshire Police Federation and the Tory MP Irvine Patnick were responsible for feeding the stories to White's News Agency in Yorkshire.

They led to the infamous Sun headline "The Truth" that led to a longstanding boycott of the paper in Liverpool. "The Police Federation, supported informally by the SYP chief constable, sought to develop and publicise a version of events derived in police officers' allegations of drunkenness, ticketless fans and violence. This extended beyond the media to Parliament," said the Panel.

"From the mass of documents, television and CCTV coverage disclosed to the Panel there is no evidence to support these allegations other than a few isolated examples of aggressive or verbally abusive behaviour clearly reflecting frustration and desperation. The vast majority of fans on the pitch assisted in rescuing and evacuating the dead and injured."

Over 23 years after 96 men, women and children died at the Leppings Lane end of the ground on 15 April 1989, the families of those who died gave the Panel a standing ovation in Liverpool Cathedral as it delivered its findings.

"For nearly a quarter of a century the families of the 96 and the survivors of Hillsborough have nursed an open wound waiting for answers to unresolved questions. It has been a frustrating and painful experience adding to their grief. In spite of all the investigations they have sensed that their search for truth and justice has been thwarted and that no one has been held accountable," said the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who chaired the Panel.

"The documents disclosed to and analysed by the Panel show that the tragedy should never have happened. There were clear operational failures in response to the disaster and in its aftermath there were strenuous attempts to deflect the blame onto the fans. The Panel's detailed report shows how vulnerable victims, survivors and their families are when transparency and accountability are compromised."

A further document records a meeting in Sheffield of Police Federation members on the morning of the publication of the controversial story in The Sun. The police Federation Secretary, Mr Middup, confirmed that 'putting our side of the story over to the press and media' had been his priority. He told the meeting that the Chief Constable had stated that 'the truth could not come from him' but he had given the Police Federation a 'free hand' and his support.

Andy Hunter in Liverpool has sent this, giving us some details about the report's conclusion on the Sun's "The Truth" story:

Documents disclosed to the Panel show that the allegations were filed by White's News Agency, a Sheffield-based company. They were based on meetings over three days between agency staff and several police officers, together with interviews with Irvine Patnick MP and the South yorkshire Federation Secretary, Paul Middup.

Cameron says the coroner was wrong to say everyone died at or shortly after 3.15pm.

But today's report shows that that was not true.

Some people could have been saved if they had been treated differently, he suggests.

The conclusions will be "very harrowing", he says.

Anyone how has lost a child will know that the pain never leaves you.

The attorney general will have to decide whether to apply to the high court to quash the original inquest verdict.

Cameron said Dominic Grieve, the attorney general, will take a decision on this quickly. But the ultimate decision will be for the courts.

Cameron says that what happened that day and subsequently was "wrong".

The police are asked to do difficult things, he says.

But we do honest police officers a disservice if we try to defend the indefensible, he says.

Cameron says it is right for him as prime minister to make a proper apology to the families of those killed. They suffered a double injustice: the failure of the state to protect them, and then the suggestion that they were to blame.

Cameron says he is profoundly sorry for this.

Today's report is black and white. The Liverpool fans were not the cause of the disaster, he says.

Cameron says MPs will want to thank the Hillsborough panel. And he pays tribute to the Hillsborough relatives.

David Cameron delivers his Commons statement on the Hillsborough report, flanked by deputy PM Nick Clegg and the home secretary, Theresa May Photograph: PA

Cameron says the families have long believed that there was an attempt by the authorities to misrepresent what happened. The families were right. There were briefings to the media, and they led to the Sun story attacking fans. Today's report says this information came from a Sheffield news agency that was reporting comments by police officers.

Some 164 police statements were amended, he says. Many removed comments attacking the police.

Officers carried out police national computer checks on the dead to impugn their reputation.

Blood tests were also taken from the dead to see if they had been drinking. This was unacceptable, he says. Drinking levels were normal for an event like this.

But there was no evidence that the government tried to conceal the truth.

One government briefing said the police had been close to deceitful. It said this was familiar.

Cameron says the then government should have done more to challenge the false things said about the fans.

The Independent has a story today which gives us a hint of what may be in today's report.

It has details of four witness statements from police constables which it says "show how the documents, originally prepared for an internal inquiry, were altered prior to Lord Taylor's official inquiry later that year to ensure that South Yorkshire Police emerged from the tragedy in a significantly more positive light."

It reports:

The testimony of one constable, 31-year-old Martin McLoughlin, was crossed through so two paragraphs of criticism were entirely deleted. PC McLoughlin, who had nine years' service with the force, described how police had "appeared to be a bit thin on the ground for the numbers of people involved" on the fateful afternoon of 15 April 1989. He also detailed how officers on duty at the stadium had a "poor supply of personal radios" when the catastrophic decision to allow fans to enter the Leppings Lane end through an exit gate led to many being crushed to death inside a stadium, which lacked an up-to-date safety certificate. Pc McLoughlin described how "it seemed very bad that only one in our serial – the sergeant – should have a personal radio. We had great difficulty in finding out what happened and what was happening and for too long a time we were basically working in the dark." All of these criticisms are struck through and an earlier reference to "the only officer with a personal radio" has been rewritten to read "who had a personal radio", making it appear as though the officers were better-equipped.

Pc McLoughlin's testimony that he could hear "the voices of more and more officers … getting desperate" over the police radio is replaced simply with the words "increased radio traffic". Another of the phrases deleted from his testimony reads: "Basically it was chaos".

A similar picture of institutional failing emerges in the testimony of Pc Alan Wadsworth, in whose report the following words were crossed out: "There was no leadership at the Leppings Lane end following the disaster, either in person or on the radio. The only officer I heard on the radio with any form of organization and method was Chief Superintendent Nesbitt (sic) [a reference to John Nesbit, traffic division commander] who did not arrive until later."

An attempt to deliver praise to Liverpool fans appears to have been crossed from the testimony of a fourth officer, David Sumner, who says that "many fans assisted in the removal of the dead and injured from the field".

Good to note that although families have seen copies of today's report, journalists are only just being the document and the findings are embargoed until the end of the David Cameron's statement, which begins at 12.30pm.

Some more background about the Hillsborough Independent Panel. David Conn was given two exclusive interviews with the Bishop of Liverpool, who is chairing the panel, one in 2010 and the other in 2011.

In which he set out the panel's commitment to establishing the full truth of what happened.

The bishop James Jones said the panel was "committed to revealing 'the full truth' about the disaster and its aftermath". He wrote:

They are dealing with some 60 agencies who hold documents, including Sheffield Wednesday football club, with the most important archive currently being "yielded up" by South Yorkshire police, whose negligence was the prime cause of the disaster. "That is our absolute priority," Jones says. "Legally and emotionally, those are our terms of reference, to add to the public understanding of the Hillsborough disaster. We are wedded to the terms of reference."

The bishop also noted that today's report is expected to be revelatory.

"There is significant material that sheds light and adds to public understanding of the disaster, its aftermath and the way it was investigated," he affirms. "Without doubt. There is material which we will put into the public domain which has not been seen before."

Luke Traynor, Daily Mirror news reporter for the north-west of England, has been tweeting about today's report.

He tweets that the report will say that blood alcohol level taken from survivors in hospital after Hillsborough without their knowledge and if fans were found to have no alcohol checks were made on police database for criminal history.

The Taylor report judged that the police's mismanagement of the crowd had been the prime cause of the disaster, together with serious safety deficiencies at the stadium itself and Sheffield city council's failure to oversee safety.

However, at the inquest into the deaths the police repeated their effort to blame the disaster on supporters. It later emerged that the police had mounted an internal corporate operation to change the statements of junior officers to reflect that claim, remove criticism of the force and stress any stories of supporters misbehaving. Nobody in authority has ever resigned, been prosecuted, disciplined or taken official responsibility for the failures that led to the disaster or what the families describe as the cover-up that followed.

The Guardian published a very moving first person piece from fan Mike Bracken on the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough, about the impact of the disaster on those who were there.

Here is an excerpt:

You may feel that, 20 years later, all the talking about Hillsborough has been done. I think, for many, it has barely started. There are thousands of survivors and witnesses who can't "move on" because their reality has not yet been made public. The absence of justice, of any acceptance of blame for the terrible misjudgments made that day, is the most important barrier, but the long-term guilt and shame are also factors. Even now, I am commonly asked about what I saw in a roundabout way. It is often raised as, "Were you at Sheffield?" or, "Were you at the game?"

Maria Eagle, MP for Garston and Halewood in Liverpool, was on the Today programme this morning. Echoing the sentiments of many of the families of the 96 who died in Sheffield she believes today's evidence will show police accounts were doctored to protect the South Yorkshire force after the event.

She said she was convinced there was a black propaganda unit set up to shift blame on to the victims.

"There was effectively an establishment cover-up," she said, which explained why families had steeped up their campaign.

She said that when talking to the victims' families the first think they say is that they want the reputation of their loved-ones cleared.

This is a significant statement from the club, according to David Conn.

He has this to say about it:

The Sheffield Wednesday statement is significant as it is the first apology there has ever been from the club. Clearly it comes before the report but as the club knows exactly what documents it supplied, I think we can read it as an apology for what the report will reveal about the club's failings.

A young Liverpool fan looks at tributes to Hillsborough victims outside Anfield on 15 April 2009. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Sheffield Wednesday FC welcomes the release of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report and would like to acknowledge the enormous amount of hard work by all involved during what was, and continues to be, an extremely emotive process.

Throughout the compilation stage, the club has worked closely with the panel and the other donating organisations to ensure that, in line with the ethos of maximum disclosure, we have been totally transparent.

Sheffield Wednesday would also like to record its gratitude for the thoroughly dignified manner with which the Hillsborough Family Support Group and its representatives conducted themselves throughout all levels of consultation with the club.

Since the acquisition of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club in December 2010 and the subsequent decision of the previous board to dissolve the former parent company Sheffield Wednesday PLC , chairman Milan Mandaric and the current board of directors have adopted a policy of complete compliance with the requests of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and on behalf of the club would like to offer our sincere condolences and an apology to all the families who have suffered as a consequence of the tragic events of 15 April, 1989.

We can only hope that the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report goes some way to providing the closure sought by all those involved.

The thoughts of everyone at Sheffield Wednesday FC remain with the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives, their families, and the wider Liverpool community who have all been affected so deeply by the disaster of 23 years ago.

Victims' families have already been speaking this morning about what they hope from today's report.

Margaret Aspinall, whose son James died, is chairwoman of the Hillsborough Families Support Group. She said: "Without the truth you cannot grieve and where there is deceit, you get no justice.”

She told BBC Breakfast: “After 23 years fighting for the truth, fighting for accountability - and I think that is very important - I think it isvery important to say that we do want accountability for 96 lives."

Trevor Hicks, a former chairman of the support group, said that they simply "just want the truth".

"It is harrowing, it is difficult... but the unknown is more difficult to cope with that the known," he told the Today programme.

Hicks, whose daughters Vicki, 15, and Sarah, 19, died in the disaster said: "We are not asking for any more than we should have been given without having to fight long and hard for it," he said.

Hicks, said the decision of the coroner to impose a cut-off on hearing evidence from after 3.15pm "was a perfectly legal decision but it wasn't a moral one." He hoped the report would change "this sense of injustice" felt by families of those who died. "The unknown is more difficult to cope with than the known."

David Conn, who has written extensively about Hillsborough, has written this piece about what we can expect today.

Here is an extract from the story:

The families of the 96 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster will receive a report on Wednesday intended to establish the truth about what happened that day and in the aftermath, based on an examination of thousands of official papers.

David Cameron will make a statement in the House of Commons on the report, expected at about 12.30pm after prime minister's questions. He has been urged by the families and Merseyside Labour MPs to deliver an apology over failures that caused the disaster, and over the attempt by South Yorkshire police to shift blame on to Liverpool supporters.

The report by the Hillsborough independent panel, established three years ago and chaired by the bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, will be accompanied by the publication later on Wednesday of 400,000 official documents from 80 organisations. The families of victims will be shown the documents before they are publicly released.

The families have for 23 years held a burning sense of injustice that those who died at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989 were failed by the legal processes that followed.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel has scrutinised 400,000 pages of documents for the past 18 months and will issue its report today, with victim’s families being given first access at Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral.

With your help, we will be analysing the report and the data as it becomes available. Our reporters David Conn, Owen Gibson and Andy Hunter will be in Liverpool today – you can follow then them on twitter @david_conn, @owen_g and @AHunterGuardian.

More on this story

Andy Burnham MP played a key part in uncovering the scandal behind the death of 96 football fans. Last week he watched David Cameron deliver his powerful apology to the people of Liverpool, then savoured the delight of the vindicated relatives

Andy Burnham MP played a key part in uncovering the scandal behind the death of 96 football fans. Last week he watched David Cameron deliver his powerful apology to the people of Liverpool, then savoured the delight of the vindicated relatives